ABSTRACT
Purpose To explore the findings and diagnostic values of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and diffusion weighted image (DWI) of the portal venous tumor thrombus (PVTT) caused by hepatic carcinoma.Materials and Methods Thirty-one patients with hepatic carcinoma (43 lesions) with 63 PVTT in the main branches and trunks diagnosed by clinical and MRI were enrolled. All patients underwent conventional MRI (cMRI) imaging, DWI and ADC imaging, the features of cMRI, DWI and ADC were observed, the relevance of ADC values between the hepatic carcinoma lesion and PVTT were analyzed.Results Among the total 43 lesions, DWI image showed low signal, iso-signal and high signal in 1, 4 and 38 lesions, respectively; and ADC image showed low signal, iso-signal and high signal in 36, 5 and 2 lesions, respectively. In the total 63 PVTT, DWI showed low signal, iso-signal and high signal in 4, 7 and 52 lesions, respectively;while their ADC images showed low signal, iso-signal and high signal in 54, 6 and 3 branches, respectively. There was good consistency for the results of two observers on the findings of ADC of tumor lesions (Kappa=0.8334,P<0.05), and a moderate consistency on that of PVTT (Kappa=0.5215,P<0.05). The average ADC value of tumor lesion and PVTT was (1.127±0.268)×10-3 mm2/s and (1.021±0.363)×10-3 mm2/s, respectively; there was a correlation of the mean values of ADC between tumor lesion and PVTT (r=0.246,P<0.05). Conclusion The features such as low signal and low value on ADC image and high signal on DWI obtain a certain clinical application value for qualitative diagnoses of PVTT.